fredk

Its clever. I've used those types of magnets and they really are very strong so I doubt that the chuck would drop or even move very much unless it gets a great deal of sideways force. Used carefully, with the alignment of the pressing tool, eg a 3D letter or picture stamp, checked right to the point of contact, it should work wonderfully well mmm, this is giving me ideas; I have a spare chuck, magnets, ...........................

Most excellent. Nice display. Best of Luck May it bring you in a load of orders, if thats your desire

I would think that to use a die to cut the belts you'll need a die-press, an expensive bit of machinery for just starting up. You can buy these templates much cheaper. These are just one style of templates, there are others http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/142176518874?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

I mostly agree with electrathon; get a a diamond shaped awl and use two needles to sew. It really does make a difference. With those you can use any size thread you want. The self-contained awl/needle thingy has its place in the tool kit. in my case I hardly ever use it but it has its uses.

Also; when hitting with a hammer/mallet, don't just rely on the straight down impression. Tip the stamp to the top, hit again, tip to right, hit, tip to left, hit, tip to bottom and hit again. Takes care to do it so the stamp doesn't move and give you a 'ghost' image. Strike - North pole, then North, East, West and South.

Beautiful to see, but not to be messed with. The pups are wise

A tip; if you are using regular printing paper, you can make it semi translucent and waterproof by giving it a good coating of beeswax/neetsfoot oil mixture

Chemically smells are retained and carried by oils. You need to replace the oils in that leather. If its veg tanned try giving a really good fresh dose of neetsfoot oil, to push out and replace the old oils. Then hang it up in a warm airy place to let the neetsfoot oil evapoarate out a bit. If the smell is really bad you may need to do this again

interesting I must look out for this

Did you case [wet] all the leather before doing the stamping? Did you let it dry completely [or near completely] and evenly all over before dyeing? If I see a part of cased leather drying faster than the rest I redampen it with a slightly wet sponge to make sure it all dries at the same rate, evenly.

Maybe the original is Wookiee hide?

I would use 1 to 1.5 mm upholstery leather for this. Sewing; place two shaped parts grain to grain, sew edges with a saddle stich, turn inside out, pad out with wadding. Fold over and glue the strap lengths Can't see signs of stiching around that bit on the front. For that I'd cut out the shape on the main piece and glue the insert in place on the inside, pad it out a bit with wadding, then glue a thin lining leather, eg pigskin, over that wadding and the insert part. Assemble as above. If the original was leather and the insert on the front was sewn; I suppose it was done by cutting out the area, leaving an edge to fold inwards, the insert and welt were sewn to that edge [grain to grain], folding the sewn part against the inside of the front panel. That would keep the stiching hidden

Historically; sword scabbards were not made of wood and covered in leather, very few were, most were just thick leather From studying actual scabbards for both swords and daggers found in London and Dublin digs there can been seen evidence that a scabbard/sheath was folded over, sewn with flesh to flesh joint then put on the blade and twisted round until the seam was along the back centre of the blade; thus no need for welts. The sewn seam was trimmed down and sometimes hammered flatter. I refer you to archeology dig records publications from the Museum of London and National Museum of Dublin A cardboard or thick paper pattern is a must for this project I think.

Another vote for LePrevo. I've been using them for nearly 17 years now. Never a glitch.

I've only ever needed to cover the base of a snap a couple of times. On those I glued the head of a rivet onto the base with the wee short stemmy bit fitting tightly into the centre hole of the snap's base

How about a bobbin box, like this one http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TRIXES-25-Bobbins-Spool-Storage-Case-Box-/391409322411?hash=item5b21d049ab:g:a40AAOSwLnBX2q6g

A pencil, 2 or 4 B

You don't need to be a whiz at wood work to make your own molds. Get some cuts of MDF [medium density fibreboard] from a DiY place and use a heavy duty knife [like a Stanley Utility knife] and rough sand paper to cut and shape, Then smoother sand paper to even out the curves. Then a few coats of quick drying varnish to seal it from the damp. You can shape up a block for a bag in about half-an-hour MDF is available in thickness ranging from 1mm to 25mm so even if you can't find the excact thickness you want/need/like layers can be glued to gether to make it up. You can even glue thin shaped bits on to the main block to raise portions during the molding

oooh yes, didn't feel like pacing it out today

I saw 'Belfast' and thought, 'eck, thats only 20 miles from meee!' Then I saw Maine, so add another 2,806 miles to that

They are also known as a Gladstone bag and date from the late 1890s

I'd say you couldn't go far wrong getting some of the Al Stohlman books. There are books which have small projects in them, books on how to stitch, how to lace and many more. Al's books are well written, full of illustrations and guidance on how and why to do things. They are available through Tandy stores and also from on-line book sellers.

Try using a gel ink pen. Just let the pen follow the engraved lettering. Seal after the ink had dried.

Depends on what its needed for I've only ever made two very basic ones. For one which someone wanted for out-door cookery demos I used 1.5 - 2mm chrome-tanned upholstery leather. A bit I had was just about the right size. No pockets or anything required, just a strap to go around the waist For the other which was for a blacksmith, again for out-door demos, again no pockets, just a strap for the waist, I used 3 - 4mm veg tan, which was oiled with my beeswax/neetfoot oil mixture for the finish. Last I saw that was serving the blacksmith well.

Very excellent work so it is A thought about the elastic; what about using thin-ish belly leather. I find it has enough stretch in it to be slightly elastic and will conform to various diameters. I used some as a pen holding loop on somat, it was stretchy enough to accommodate a few diameters of pen sizes I only use velcro on the cheap throw-away items made up from scrap. For my regular items its not allowed, has to be a proper closure fitting.